Shad and Sarah Deal Making Him known in Indonesia 
Last Sunday, we made our move to the other side of town to spend a few weeks immersing ourselves in Indonesian language and culture. For the last week, we have spent much time eating, thinking, speaking, and breathing Indonesian. Although we thoroughly expected to be exhausted by this change in our living situation, we have been plesantly surprised to find ourselves enjoying it so much!
This time has only strengthened our relationship with our good friends, Ronny and Yanti, who have opened up their home to us for these three weeks (and have offered an open invitation to stay as long as we want!). Our time spent working, cooking, cleaning, and relaxing alongside them has been a joy. It has been very rewarding to take the time to get to know them better, sharing both laughter and serious moments together.
Although our mornings are still busy with other ministry responsibilities, our afternoons and evenings are spent with friends in our new neighborhood. Every afternoon, I help prepare Indonesian meals while Braden wanders around playing with the innumerable amount of kids that live nearby. Shad has lots of opportunities to talk with neighbors while practicing his Indonesian. We eat dinner every night with Ronny, Yanti, and their son Dito, and also with anyone else who happens to drop by at that time and hasn’t eaten yet! After dinner, I usually help clean up and put Braden to bed while Shad goes out for his “second round” of visiting neighbors—which usually lasts until eleven o’clock at night!! 
On Saturday night, Shad had the opportunity to join in on a men’s meeting at Ronny and Yanti’s house. Yanti, some other neighbors and I made warm sweet tea, dished up opor (a coconut milk based soup poured over rice), and loaded up plates with boiled peanuts, cakes, and fruit to be served to the men. At around 8pm, around 20 men gathered in the small living room for their meeting. As they all sat and ate their food, Shad took the opportunity to write down all their names as well as introduce himself. I was not able to hear all that went on, but I smiled as heard him laughing and joking comfortably with the men in Indonesian. Before they all left, Shad got a picture of the whole group, and a few even requested copies!! He also got his picture taken with a man with a bald head—a rare sight here in Indonesia! Ronny has told Shad many times that the neighbors really appreciate his interest in them and their language and culture. We praise the Lord that this community has accepted us with open arms, and we are looking forward to the rest of our stay!!
We appreciate your prayers for our energy level (as this is like studying all day every day without a break) as well as wisdom to balance our ever-growing ministry responsibilities with this homestay time. We praise the Lord that things have gone so well thus far, and we give Him the glory for all He is doing in our lives and the lives of our hosts!! Thanks for praying—we’ll keep the updates coming!!
